5th: Set a benchmark for your business
Mar 13, 2023
Benchmarking is the process of comparing your business against your top competitors or other similar businesses. The comparison can be made on various metrics such as market share, pricing, profitability, expenses, customer retention, social media outreach, effectiveness of marketing campaigns, employee satisfaction, acquiring new clients, and brand recognition.
Being a small business, it may not be possible for you to benchmark every metric. Just go with the most relevant ones or the ones you believe will bring maximum benefits such as customer acquisition, social media performance, customer retention, etc. Also, make sure you choose the most relevant competitor for benchmarking. Take baby steps and choose a business that is slightly stronger than yours but you can beat it. Once you have done it, choose an even stronger one.
The goal of your benchmarking process should be to help you identify areas where your performance is lower than your competitors so you can work on them. A fair comparison can help you improve your internal processes and standards. The data can be used to create practices that are better than your competitors. It can increase your efficiency and overall profits.
The toughest part of benchmarking is finding credible resources from where you can collect data. You may get them from competitors’ websites, financial reports, marketing materials, interviews, media coverages, press releases, surveys, social media posts, online reviews, etc.
